A Friend It’s Nice To Have Around
by Fr. David M. Knight

Tuesday, January 30, 2024
Week IV in Ordinary Time
Lectionary No. 324
2Samuel 18:9 to 19:3; Psalm 86; Mark 5:21-43
"Gladden the soul of your servant…" Psalm 86:4
Wherever Jesus was, good things seemed to happen. In the middle of a crowd, a woman “came up behind him and touched his cloak.” Instantly, she was healed.
When he reached a house where people were “weeping and wailing” because a girl had died, Jesus said, “The child is not dead but asleep.” They ridiculed him. So he put the killjoys out, took the child by the hand and said, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!” Then, “Give her something to eat.” Jesus knew kids!
Jesus is the kind of person it’s nice to have around. And, as “Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us” (Matthew 1:23) he is always around. To be always “with him,” we just have to be conscious we are.
One way to do this is just to “Be still, and know that I am God!” (Psalm 46:10).
Another is to say the WIT prayer all day long: Lord, do this with me, do this in me, do this through me.
Another is to let difficulties remind you of Jesus’s final words in Matthew’s Gospel: “Remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.”
Friendship is interaction. Interact with Jesus and he will make things better all around you.
ACTION: Be aware that you walk in and are the “aroma of Christ” (2Corinthians 2:14ff.).
PRAYER: “Lord, do this with me, do this in me, do this through me.”
Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry

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